Many publishing systems allow a user to create documents in which multiple pages of the documents are printed on a single sheet of paper. For example, a user may want to create a greeting card out of the single sheet of paper. The user creates a document that includes four pages that each have a page number. The first page represents the front cover of the greeting card, the second and third pages represent the insides of the greeting card, and the fourth page represents the back cover of the greeting card. The user can then print all four pages on a single sheet of paper. If the pages are printed in the appropriate orientation on the sheet, then the user can fold the sheet both horizontally and vertically to form the greeting card.
Users of publishing systems can create complex documents with many pages that are to be printed on many sheets with multiple pages per sheet. The pages of these complex documents may be divided into various types of divisions such as sections, chapters, and so on. In such a complex document, each page may have both a page number and a division. The page numbers may be sequential throughout the entire document or may restart at the beginning of each division.
Before a user prints a document, the user may want to use a print preview feature of the publishing system to check whether the layout (e.g., position and orientation) of the pages to be printed on each sheet is correct. The publishing system may generate a print preview for each sheet that includes an image of each page positioned and oriented on the sheet as it would be printed. The image of a page on the print preview typically contains the entire content of the page that would be printed.
A difficulty with typical publishing systems is that a user may not be able to easily determine from the print preview the page numbers of the pages that are to be printed at various positions on the sheet. For example, with a greeting card, the first page may be printed right side up in the lower right quadrant of the sheet, the second page may be printed upside down in the upper right quadrant of the sheet, the third page may be printed upside down in the upper left quadrant of the sheet, and the fourth page may be printed right side up in the lower left quadrant of the sheet. Because the contents of greeting cards typically do not include page numbers, a user has no readily available means to identify the page number of the page that will be printed in each quadrant. As a result, the user may not be able to easily determine whether each page will be printed in the appropriate position and orientation.